Brands, Sanderson set up a dual meet over Twitter

September 7, 2013

IOWA CITY - A big miss by the Big Ten and a little back-and-forth on Twitter are getting the Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions back together.

Despite not being scheduled to square off in Big Ten Conference wrestling this season, head coaches Tom Brands of Iowa and Cael Sanderson from Penn State sparked a conversation Thursday on Twitter that on Friday yielded an official announcement.

The Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions, who have met every year since 1982, will face off Dec. 21 in an 8 p.m. dual inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena in a non-conference clash between national titans.

The two teams have combined to win the last six NCAA championships - Iowa from 2008-2010 and Penn State the last three.

At 11:43 a.m. Central time Thursday, Sanderson reached out to Brands via Twitter. The Hawkeyes' head coach has more than 3,000 followers but had not been active on his account until receiving this message from Sanderson: "there seems to be something BIG missing on our schedules this year..."

Brands, after more than 10 days of silence following the creation of his Twitter account, responded: "yeah, I agree . Lets do something about it."

The dual meet will be considered a special event and thus not included in the Iowa wrestling season ticket package. The match will be televised live by the Big Ten Network.